Pied-billed Grebe

Pied-billed Grebe, adult, breeding plumage

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Pied-billed Grebe, adult, non-breeding plumage

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1. Description
2. Sound
3. Conservation Status
4. Other Names
5. Cool Facts
6. Full detailed species account

A small diving bird with a chicken-lke bill, the Pied-billed Grebe is common on lakes and ponds across North America. It is rarely seen flying and prefers to sink out of sight when danger threatens.

Description

• Small waterbird.
• Brown head and body, with tufted, whitish rump.
• Small head and bill.
• Bill short, but thick.
• Bill pale, with black ring around it in summer.
• Black throat in summer.

• Size: 30-38 cm (12-15 in)
• Wingspan: 45-62 cm (18-24 in)
• Weight: 253-568 g (8.93-20.05 ounces)

Sex Differences

Sexes look alike.

Sound

Song a loud "kuk-kuk-kuk, kaow, kaow, kaow, kaow, kaowk, kaowk, kawk."

Conservation Status

Common. Breeding populations declining in some areas, especially at edge of range.

Other Names

Grèbe à bec bigarré (French)
Zambullidor piquigrueso, Macá picopinto (Spanish)

Cool Facts

• The Pied-billed Grebe is rarely seen in flight. It prefers to escape predators by diving, and it migrates at night. However, it can fly, and stray individuals have reached Hawaii and Europe.
• Although it swims like a duck, the Pied-billed Grebe does not have webbed feet. Instead of having a webbing connecting all the toes, each toe has lobes extending out on the sides that provide extra surface area for paddling.

• The downy chicks can leave the nest soon after hatching, but they do not swim well at first and do not spend much time in the water in the first week. They sleep on the back of a parent, held close beneath its wings. By the age of four weeks, the young grebes are spending day and night on the water. For the first ten days their response to danger is to climb onto a parent's back.  After that, when danger threatens, they dive under water.

Sources used to construct this page:

Muller, M. J., and R. W. Storer. 1999. Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps). In The Birds of North America, No. 410 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.